TORRANCE >> What civic leaders describe as one of the most pivotal municipal elections in city history is officially underway.

The City Council approved a series of routine resolutions Tuesday paving the way for the June 3 election that’s expected to dictate the political direction of the city for much of the next decade.

“You could have upwards of five new council people and that’s never happened before,” said Mayor Frank Scotto, who is termed out after eight years on the panel. “That makes this election unique.”

And even more so given the backdrop to the campaign.

Up to two dozen candidates could file for mayor — current council members Pat Furey and the termed-out Tom Brewer and Bill Sutherland have already telegraphed their intentions to run for the post — and four other available City Council slots.

That’s because Cliff Numark stepped down after winning a seat on the El Camino Community College District Board of Trustees in November, while Councilwoman Susan Rhilinger also stepped down last year to move to Cape Cod for health reasons

That means a majority of the seats on the seven-member panel will be occupied by newcomers at a time when long-serving members of upper management at City Hall — including the police chief, fire chief and city manager — are expected to retire over the next two to three years.

But if Furey wins the mayor’s race, the number of new faces on the council will rise even more.

A Furey victory would prompt the council to appoint a replacement, perhaps until the November election, but more likely until the June 2016 end of his council term.

That election also will see Councilman Gene Barnett termed out, while the seats occupied by Furey or his replacement, along with the newcomer who wins Rhilinger’s former council seat and finishes out her term, will also be up for grabs.

That translates into an entirely new City Council within two years, noted Barnett, who will become Torrance’s longest serving elected official come July.

“It’s probably the first time there’s been that kind of change in such a short period of time,” Barnett said. “It’s a rare time in the city’s history.”

Barnett also is a major repository of institutional knowledge at City Hall.

When he departs, the former community services director will have served the city for 44 years — a length of service rivaled only by City Manager LeRoy Jackson, who this month marks 47 years with the city of Torrance.

For good measure, long-serving City Clerk Sue Herbers will step down after the June election, too, while the treasurer position also is on the ballot.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” Herbers said. “I have a few more things ahead of me to do and I’m not sure what they are yet.”

To help voters deal with the unprecedented changes and the sheer volume of candidate information that will be coming at them, for the first time ever the city is creating a stand-alone website — TorranceVotes.com — as a centralized repository for all municipal election information.

The goal is to help increase voter turnout, which is traditionally low for June elections, while boosting the current 88,000 registered voters in the city to more than 100,000.

Currently under construction, the website is expected to go live sometime after the end of the month.

“I expect between 18 and 22 (to run for the council positions),” Scotto said. “That’s the biggest field of candidates ever to my knowledge.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult for the average voter to pick four people to vote for out of that group,” he added. “The efforts the city will make in this campaign will really help (voters).”

Especially since key campaign dates and events — at least six forums are tentatively slated to be held, Herbers said — will come at voters rapidly.

The candidate nomination period opens Feb. 10 and closes March 7. It will be extended five days should any eligible candidate fail to file, although that’s not expected to occur, at least for the council positions.

Both Kurt Weideman and Heidi Ashcraft, who filled the vacancies created by the exits of Rhilinger and Numark respectively, have said publicly they intend to run in the June election.

Even though Scotto is ineligible to run again, Herbers says the nomination period for mayor — as well as city clerk — will be extended until March 12.

To complicate matters even more, candidates in the crowded field will have less time than ever to reach many voters, Scotto noted.

That’s because more and more voters send in vote-by-mail ballots early with each election cycle. In 2008, nearly 55 percent of ballots were cast ahead of election day, Scotto said.

Candidates will have to spend big money to get noticed.

Scotto said he spent $225,000 to get elected eight years ago, yet was outspent 3-to-1 by opponent Dan Walker in a bitterly contested election.

With three members of a collegial council running for mayor, this election likely won’t be as contentious as that one. But Scotto expects mayoral candidates will have to raise as much as $70,000 to get their message across.

“All three (incumbents) are very similar,” Scotto said. “All three want to continue with the tradition we have today of transparency and ethical behavior.”

Which becomes even more important with the elected and appointed leadership of the city in such a state of flux over the next two years.

“This is an unfortunate situation where we’re going to have such high turnover,” Barnett said. “In this particular election, if you’re a long-term resident of the city of Torrance, you need to be concerned about the long-term direction of the city.”

Veteran journalist Nick Green is the beat reporter for the cities of Torrance, Carson and Lomita and also covers the South Bay's rapidly growing craft beer industry for the Daily Breeze. He has worked for newspapers on the West Coast since graduating in 1987 from the University of Washington and lives in Old Torrance with his wife and two cats. Follow him on Twitter @NickGreen007 and @BeerGogglesLA.